MUMBAI: The country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), has decided to raise the benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) by 70 basis points (or 0.7%) to 14.85% from March 15.
The public lender will also increase the base rate by 70 bps from the existing 9.40% to 10.10%, according to the bank’s website. The hike means that the EMIs of the loans liked to the base rate will go up. The lender had last made an upward revision in BPLR and base rate on December 15.
The hike has been announced by SBI a month after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised the repo rate, or the rate at which it lends short-term funds to commercial banks, to 6.5% from 6.25%. The public lender, however, decided to keep the marginal cost of funds-based lending rates (MCLR) unchanged. SBI had last raised MCLR by 10 basis points on February 15.
Many other banks have also raised their lending rates after the Reserve Bank of India hiked repo rate last month which has increased the cost of funds for the banks.